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A variety of distinguished and notable names have emerged from the beautiful and historical Italian region of Tuscany, including the notable surname Gherardini. During the Middle Ages, as populations grew and travel between regions became more frequent, the people of Tuscany, who were originally known only by a single name, found it necessary to adopt a second name to identify themselves and their families. This process of adopting fixed hereditary surnames in Italy began in the 10th and 11th centuries, but it was not completed until the modern era. The development of Italian hereditary surnames followed general principles and were characterized by derivatives from one's given name. The patronymic surname, which is derived from the father's given name, was one of the most common name types found in the region of Tuscany. This system of name-making was widely used because it linked well with the existing Feudal System and during the Christian era, many people named their children after saints and biblical figures. The surname Gherardini came from the personal name Gerard, which was itself derived from the Old German Gerhard, which means spear-brave.
The surname Gherardini was first found in Tuscany (Italian: Toscana), a region in central Italy, in the northern area of the Garfagnana. Records can be found as early as 970, with the Gherardinghi family who owned the castles of Verrucola, Bibbiano, Bogli, San Romano, and Sommacologna.
There are many variations of most of those Italian names that originated in the medieval era. Some of these come from regional differences, like the tradition of ending northern names in "o" and southern names in "i". Others come from inaccuracies in the recording process, which were extremely common in the eras before dictionaries standardized spelling. Some of the spelling variations of Gherardini are Gherardi, Gherardo, Gherardis, Ghirardi, Ghirardo, Gherlardi, Ghelardo, Ghilardi, Gerardi, Gheraldi, Ghiraldi, Ghiroldi, Geraldi, Geraldo, Geroldi, Giraldi, Giraldo, Ciraldo, Giraudo, Giraud, Girod, Giroldi, Gherardelli, Gherardini, Gherardinghi, Gerardini, Gerardello, Gherarducci, Gherardeschi, Della Gherardesca, Ghirardelli, Ghilardini, Ghelardini, Girardini, Girardin, Girardoni, Girardone, Girardengo, Geraldini and many more.
This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Gherardini research. More information is included under the topic Early Gherardini History in all our PDF Extended History products.
Another 301 words (22 lines of text) are included under the topic Early Gherardini Notables in all our PDF Extended History products.
The records on immigrants and ships' passengers show a number of people bearing the name Gherardini:
Gherardini Settlers in United States in the 20th Century
The Gherardini Family Crest was acquired from the Houseofnames.com archives. The Gherardini Family Crest was drawn according to heraldic standards based on published blazons. We generally include the oldest published family crest once associated with each surname.
This page was last modified on 5 September 2013 at 13:15.